The totalitarian laughter versus the State Laughter

Evgeny Dobrenko and Natalia Jonsson-Skradol’s foundational study delves deeply into a pivotal subject within cultural history: the role and significance of laughter during the era of “high” Stalinism. State Laughter constitutes a key contribution to understanding this intricate and multi-faceted phenomenon. The book holds significant value on various fronts. Notably, its monumental introductory chapter provides a comprehensive overview of theoretical aspects surrounding the study of laughter and its cultural nuances, with a specific focus on post-revolutionary Russia. It incorporates a plethora of works on the history, theory, and practice of laughter culture, ensuring its relevance for generations of researchers. The authors give due prominence to Mikhail Bakhtin and his carnival theory, asserting that Bakhtin’s conception does not entirely apply to Stalin’s carnival. The book challenges the idea that subversive laughter, as described by Bakhtin, is the sole authentic form, highlighting that laughter in a totalitarian context can also be conservative rather than explosively subversive. This nuanced exploration contributes significantly to our understanding of laughter within the specific historical and cultural context of mature Stalinism. According to the authors, the distinction between subversive and totalitarian laughter, referred to as “gossmekh” or “state laughter,” is akin to the contrast between an anti-Soviet joke (a “humorous anecdote”) and the film Kuban Cossacks. The authors argue that both belong to Stalin’s laughter culture but differ in their essence. Unfortunately, the authors do not delve deeply into why they consider the pivotal work of Soviet socialist realism, Kuban Cossacks, to be an integral part of laughter culture. Instead of “totalitarian laughter” the authors choose the title-term “state laughter” (gossmekh, derived from Dmitry Likhachev’s coinage gosudarstvennyi smekh). For the alternative way of theorizing one should look at Serguei Oushakine and Dennis Ioffe’s volume "Totalitarian Laughter: Images–Sounds–Performers" (2013).